After the latest remarks on Wedonesque from Firefly/Serenity creator Joss Whedon, why are fans of the show and movie still not accepting the news that Serenity will be no more?
Joss seemed pretty clear in his remarks and they appear to leave little room for doubt of his meaning. “There’s no sequel, no secret project regarding Serenity or somesuch and I’m not even sure how anyone thought there was talk there,” wrote Whedon. “So let’s put that to bed and smother it with a pillow.”
Well, let me tell you a little secret about scifi fans once they get their hearts and minds wrapped around anything they love. It is never dead, will never go away, and will always return. It’s almost messianic in nature. But, is it realistic? Well, if Star Trek, Star Wars, James Bond, Doctor Who, Indiana Jones, The Twilight Zone, or The Outer Limits are any example, then perhaps the fans of Firefly/Serenity are justified in their undying hope of a return of Firefly on the small screen, or another big screen epic surrounding the motley crew of the famous space-cargo transport. As the past can attest to, regardless of what Whedon says or doesn’t say, it ain’t over until the fans say its over. Perhaps that explains today’s followup comments from Joss, “I’ll be very, very clear. There is no news. Not never, just [not] now.”
Surely Serenity/Firefly must have made some money by now!
Ive bought the DVDs, The Books, The RPG, The Hat!
Fingers crossed for something new, theres a huge fan base out there, more than most of the 2nd rate sci-fi stuff we are getting at the moment.
Reportedly the film has yet to recoup its $40 million dollar price tag. To date “Serenity” has only grossed $38,851,952. That dollar amount includes both domestic and international box office stats.
The projected domestic gross was $30 mil, however, it only achieved $25,514,517 in U.S. ticket and DVD sales.
So, we still have a ways to go to make any studio want to gamble on another one. But, given time – it may well happen.
“There’s no sequel, no secret project regarding Serenity or somesuch and I’m not even sure how anyone thought there was talk there,” wrote Whedon. “So let’s put that to bed and smother it with a pillow.”
— What does that mean? Is Joss even speaking English here? That must be French or something. I think the guy is in denial about Serenity sequel. I think he just wants our attention. We should send him a basket or something.
Angel came back from hell and the dead. Buffy was dead AND buried. River and Simon was pronounced dead. Is Wash “really” dead? You think smothering something with a pillow can really kill something in the Whedon universe? I don’t think that staking it, chopping the head off with a silver blade, dousing it in holy water and burying the body and the head facedown at the crossroads can kill it.
Unless he comes up with something equally good to divert our attention away from Firefly/ Serenity, he can hang up any chance of us comprehending no.
No means YES!!!
Sam,
Where are you getting your numbers from regarding Serenity’s profit? If you are going from Box Office Mojo, or similar box office site, those figures do NOT include DVD sales. Not in the slightest.
Furthermore, there are other sources for revenue. In addition to DVD sales, you need to factor in HBO and network distribution agreements, and the merchandising (as Yogurt would say “where the real money from the movie is made.”)
Universal has several licensing agreements for Serenity. There is a company that is producing officially licensed T-shirts which are for sale at Hot Topic and Stylin’ Online. There is Diamond Select toys which did the action figures and resin a. there is QMX, which is doing some additional high-quality prop replicas.
The bottom line is: only Universal knows for sure whether Serenity has made back its money, and they’re not talking. But it’s likely that Serenity is close to being in the black, and this holiday season will be key.
Sorry to preach. For more info you may want to check out The Signal # 18, which came out Sept 27. I wrote an article for that ep that goes over a lot of this stuff in more detail.
Thanks for letting me rant/preach.
No problem Carrie – rant away. I don’t claim to walk on water – at least not yet :). And you are correct, the final figures do not include DVD sales as I stated in comment above. That was a mistake on my part. However, when a studio does look at profitability in regards to funding a sequel or remake of anything, they look at the box office receipts and not DVD or merchandising sales for making the decision. Those other figures are very important, but, as much as we would like, do not reflect the grounds on which they make sequel decisions (unless the sequel is made for a direct-to-DVD release). Why? Because real total profit is made from theatrical releases. All other monies (from DVD’s, merchandise, etc.) are shared profits. That point may seem trivial to us who love the product, but it is an important ingredient in the decision to make a sequel or not.
The initial comments that Joss made that started this whole “Serenity is Dead” mess were misinterpreted. If Joss is seen at lunch with one of the Firefly actors people start buzzing that it must have been to discuss a new sequel. Therefore, he posts on Whendonesque occasionally to dismiss those rumors. That’s all he was doing here. However, many people have taken his comments way, way too far. Here’s part of his followup posting a couple of days ago to clear things up…
“Holy Mother of Oats! I turn my back for five minutes (that’s how long it takes to admire my lovely back) and the interweb goes banoonoos! Isn’t there any ACTUAL news to get wrong? Sorry about all this; it might be best if I just stay off the computer for a while. Or just glut the feed with wild conjecture. Hmm, let’s see… I’m me, so… let’s glut! Here are some ABSOLUTELY TRUE statements of factiness. Gentlemen, start your websites.”
Everybody needs to take a deep breath. 🙂
Kevin